World Okta

This month just flew passed. I have done internship and I just came back from the World Federation of overseas Korean Traders Associations's business training program. It was quite interesting because it provided me with an excellent opportunity to meet new Koreans and understand their customs a bit more :S

Well, I am Korean but I was never so sure about the customs they have in Korea. One irritating custom was to respect the elders. It was more like be nice to elders though. The elders would eat first, then the younger people would raise their chop stick to eat. I wasn't so found of it because I was the youngest among them haha. I didn't really talk much at first. I guess I was really shy and was afraid someone would hit me XD. Another thing was that people started calling people "형님" which means big brother. It was really awkward for me because some of the participants were 20 years older than me and I wasn't sure if I should call them "형님"... So I had a lot of awkward moments. I got to really know them better at the end though. I think it was because I started to realize that these people were nice and understanding.

In Okta, we were separated into groups and we had to decide which product would be successful in a foreign market. Then, we would construct a market strategy that would work. My idea was to produce glow in the dark tickets ! I thought it was a really good idea since people can't see the movie tickets in the dark and tend to take out their cellphones to use its lights to check their seat number. Moreover, the glow in the dark ticket paper would be easy and cheap to produce. However, we ended up with becoming an agency between South and North Korea marriage. It was interesting, but we failed to get any prize. I guess the main problem was with the feasibility of the product.

Lastly, we heard a lot of lectures. The lectures were interesting and some were boring. For the boring ones, I could barely keep myself awake! The interesting ones were that were more familiar to my sense of business. The most favorable lecture was about making money through salaries but use that money to invest on land, stocks and etc. Another lecture I liked was on the lecturers failures. He failed to understand the difference of cultures in different countries and how they would cause a negative impact when his company exported their goods.

I learned a lot and felt really tired when I got back. I missed the internet a lot as well lol actually chatted with a friend for hours ! I think OKTA provided me with a unforgettable memory! I hope other people who are fortunate enough to join the OKTA program to have fun as well!